Bcs Championship

Reporting from Glendale, Ariz. Dramatic comebacks were Auburn's calling card this season. The Tigers overcame double-digit deficits four times as they won the Southeastern Conference title. But Auburn saved its best for last. Facing possible overtime against second-ranked Oregon, the top-ranked Tigers drove down the field and Wes Byrum kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired for a 22-19 victory in the Bowl Championship Series national championship game Monday night at University of Phoenix Stadium.

ESPN's "Octomom" family of networks hopes you enjoy this year's cavalcade of commercials and center snaps as it furiously tries to secure the two games it doesn't broadcast. Conspicuously missing from the lineup is Ohio State (12-0) vs. Louisiana Tech (9-3) in our mythical Outcast Bowl. Ohio State has been banned from this season's bowls by the NCAA and Louisiana Tech was snuffed out like a sidewalk cigarette so that a dozen schools with 6-6 records and one at 6-7 could raise a participation trophy.

Reporting from New Orleans -- Trent Richardson rushed for 109 yards and two touchdowns in Alabama's national title win over Texas two Januarys ago at the Rose Bowl. You could look it up. He was in the team picture and everything. Yet Richardson will mostly be remembered as a contributing editor to the script. He was a freshman, playing behind Alabama's first Heisman Trophy winner. Mark Ingram was the lead luminary on that team of stars that included Julio Jones, Terrence Cody, Javier Arenas, Rolando McClain and Marcell Dareus.

Texas football players, as well as Coach Mack Brown , arrived in Southern California no longer needing to apologize about squeaking past Nebraska in the Big 12 Conference title game. The Cornhuskers' 33-0 victory over Arizona in the Holiday Bowl took care of that. "They shut them out," Texas quarterback Colt McCoy said. "Their defense is really good and they played great. It's good for our conference and for us." Very good for the Texas psyche, that of the players and their fans.

Texas Christian is the first team in the Bowl Championship Series clubhouse, at 12-and-O under, closing out a perfect season Saturday with a 66-17 victory over New Mexico's Lost Lobos. Now let's see, Horned Frogs, if the system croaks. TCU was up only 31-17 at the half when cable channel Versus invited America to listen in on Coach Gary Patterson's sideline address to his players. With no viewer discretion warning, the cameras caught Patterson using words that would make a librarian blush.

Think about just how crazy this is: Oregon started the year looking for a new quarterback after star Jeremiah Masoli was kicked off the team and landed all the way in Mississippi after violating Coach Chip Kelly's two-strike law. And now the Ducks are going to be No. 1 in the polls? Boise State started the season ranked in the top five, but everyone knew it would have to navigate a rat's maze of booby traps to overcome the politics of being a former junior college from a potato state.

Thanks to the unbelievable heroics of a backup quarterback and a backup tailback, the bowl championship series may now need a backup plan. You asked for chaos and mayhem and an impossible-dream finish to an almost unfathomable college football season?

Brigham Young is . . . in it to win it? Bolstered by its 14-13 victory against previously third-ranked Oklahoma on Saturday, Brigham Young jumped 11 spots in the Associated Press poll and 12 spots in the USA Today coaches' index. BYU is No. 9 in the AP and No. 12 in USA Today, putting the Mountain West Conference team in position to potentially challenge for a spot in this year's Bowl Championship Series title game. No school from outside the six power conferences has ever appeared in the BCS championship.

I can't duck it anymore. Oregon is the best team in the country. I'm going to stop being so daffy about it. Oregon deserves a spot in the national championship game right now. I tried ? oh, Phil Knight knows I tried ? but my mocking disbelief no longer works, not after what happened Saturday on a beak-dropping, metaphor-flying night at the Coliseum. It was USC's title game, and Oregon kicked the BCS out of the Trojans. It was the first time the top-ranked Ducks had truly been hit in the mouth, and they just grinned.

Unbuckling the mailbag: Question: Get with the program. You really think Alabama's offense can go round for round with the Ducks' offense? Darren Spicer Answer: You may have not heard about my recent religious conversion to SEC-anity. I actually cut myself shaving today and bled Crimson. Look, I was thoroughly impressed with Oregon's demolition of Arizona State on Thursday night. The Ducks could have scored 100 on the Sun Devils. But I am hardly ready to drop Alabama from No. 1. Given that the Southeastern Conference is 8-1 in Bowl Championship Series title games, I would still pick Alabama over Oregon if the schools met this year - and boy wouldn't that be better to watch than Alabama-Louisiana State.